Your Very Own Holodeck? castAR Brings It Within Reach

For those who've longed for a Star Trek-style holodeck of your own — the future is here. castAR is an augmented reality system that brings the idea within reach.

Designed by Rick Johnson and Jeri Ellsworth of Technical Illusions, castAR bridges the gap between the physical world and the virtual world by combining projected augmented reality, true virtual reality, and true augmented reality in a single system. Last fall, it earned over a million dollars on Kickstarter, more than double its $400k goal.

While wearing the castAR glasses, the effect is pretty nifty: I played a multiplayer zombie game that is projected on a real table top. When I moved your body in real life, the software adjusted my view of the projected game board accordingly. Unlike immersive virtual reality, you can still see your opponents in real life with a tilt of the head, if you want to exchange a look or punch them in the arm.

Outside of games, the potential applications for this type of technology are plentiful. “There’s data visualization for computer aided design, or for education. If you really wanted to go crazy, you could even turn your entire room into a holodeck,” says castAR co-creator Jeri Ellsworth. A holodeck? Be still, my Star Trek TNG-loving heart.

I stopped by the castAR tent at Maker Faire Bay Area 2014, where they were demoing an Asteroids-style game, a multiplayer zombie game, and a 3D rendering of what your 3D print will look like — projected inside the 3D printer, as it's printing. Jeri spoke with me on camera about castAR’s potential and what she loves most about seeing other people using it. I also chatted with some Fairegoers who had just demoed the muliplayer zombie game ("It was cooperative at first, but then things went downhill and we started attacking each other"), and Technical Illusions artist Ryan Smith. Check out the video above.

Computers & Mobile Videos

Your Very Own Holodeck? castAR Brings It Within Reach

For those who've longed for a Star Trek-style holodeck of your own — the future is here. castAR is an augmented reality system that brings the idea within reach.

Designed by Rick Johnson and Jeri Ellsworth of Technical Illusions, castAR bridges the gap between the physical world and the virtual world by combining projected augmented reality, true virtual reality, and true augmented reality in a single system. Last fall, it earned over a million dollars on Kickstarter, more than double its $400k goal.

While wearing the castAR glasses, the effect is pretty nifty: I played a multiplayer zombie game that is projected on a real table top. When I moved your body in real life, the software adjusted my view of the projected game board accordingly. Unlike immersive virtual reality, you can still see your opponents in real life with a tilt of the head, if you want to exchange a look or punch them in the arm.

Outside of games, the potential applications for this type of technology are plentiful. “There’s data visualization for computer aided design, or for education. If you really wanted to go crazy, you could even turn your entire room into a holodeck,” says castAR co-creator Jeri Ellsworth. A holodeck? Be still, my Star Trek TNG-loving heart.

I stopped by the castAR tent at Maker Faire Bay Area 2014, where they were demoing an Asteroids-style game, a multiplayer zombie game, and a 3D rendering of what your 3D print will look like — projected inside the 3D printer, as it's printing. Jeri spoke with me on camera about castAR’s potential and what she loves most about seeing other people using it. I also chatted with some Fairegoers who had just demoed the muliplayer zombie game ("It was cooperative at first, but then things went downhill and we started attacking each other"), and Technical Illusions artist Ryan Smith. Check out the video above.

Boost Your BeagleBone Black with Breakout Board

In this episode of Projects with Ryan Slaugh, I dive in to schematic capture and layout to make a breakout board for the BeagleBone Black.

The BeagleBone Black is great for connecting to sensors, motors, LCDs, and a variety of other hardware given the amount of digital and analog IO available. The aim with this project was to make a system that could control higher voltage loads (up to 220v), measure current on those loads, give easy access to analog input, and make available all of the digital IO, PWM pins, and the I2C bus--all while being able to be controlled over a network. To facilitate such connections, it was necessary to create a custom printed circuit board (PCB).

Making a PCB is easier than you might expect. Lots of software is available for the purpose of schematic capture (designing the schematic) and PCB layout. Many are available at low or no cost.

KINECTing to the Future

Video of my science fair project. Is it possible to control a robotic device using only human gestures? Using the Microsoft Kinect Software Developer Kit in conjunction with the Visual Basic and Arduino programming languages, it has proven to be possible.

Weekend Projects – Sun Logger

Complete instructions for this episode of Weekend Projects can be found at
http://makeprojects.com/Project/Sun-Logger/2275/1

Our second Arduino project in this series of Weekend Projects, the Sun Logger is a device that gathers data about sunlight. Hack a light-sensitive photoresistor to a homemade "shield" to record data to an SD card, and then examine this data later on your computer to see how light changes in an area over time.

Weekend Projects – A Touchless 3D Tracking Interface

Complete instructions for this episode of Weekend Projects can be found at
http://makeprojects.com/Project/A-Touchless-3D-Tracking-Interface/2233/1

Using a combination of low- and high-tech components, we'll show you how to build a completely touchless 3D tracking interface. This project will introduce you to the principle of capacitive sensing, and the Arduino microcontroller.

The Latest in Arduino 02

This month's Latest in Arduino episode is out. Host James Floyd Kelly discusses a new Arduino book, solders up the Maker Shield, and discusses Arduino-controlled robots with J. D. and Josh. Get more info and links to the projects discussed in this episode: http://blog.makezine.com/?p=102817

Collin’s Lab: Brainwave Beats

http://blog.makezine.com/?p=95705
Measuring brainwaves is not just for neuroscientists anymore — new affordable consumer-level EEG devices (and even some toys) do a respectable job at measuring tiny voltage pulses given off by neurons firing in the brain.

Cool — but how shall we use these newfound sensory powers? To automatically compose electronic music, of course!